Rafa: A delightful study in tact and craft

Rafael Nadal has added the eighth French Open title to his grand slam kitty.

Though consistency is a hallmark of greatness, his first title at Roland Garros in 2005 still amazes me. For, in his first ever French Open, he went all the way!

Please note: Becker won the Wimbledon title in 1985 at 17, but it was not his first date at SW19. Pete Sampras and Roger Federer didn’t win Wimbledon titles in their first attempts.

Rafa did it at 19 on his Paris debut.

What epitomises the Spaniard’s play? Retrieving and mental fortitude, yes. But the improvement in his serve over the years should not be overlooked. And he has taken the backhand crosscourt pass to the hitherto unseen level. And most importantly, his combined quality of four groundstrokes is perhaps unparalleled.

Tell me any other player in the history of the game whose combined strength of both forehands (down the line & crosscourt) and both backhands had so much velocity.

Of course, Agassi comes close but not quite there. Pete Sampras’ forehand crosscourt, and on-the-run at that, was an awesome shot, but down the line was not in the same league.

Since unique Federer plays one-handed backhand and inside out forehand, his strokes can’t be compared to that of Rafa’s. And despite the Swiss’ greatness and beauty, let’s accept that he is not attacking consistently with his backhand.

Rafa is a master of turning his defensive shots into offensive ones. But more than that, his understanding of timing is tad superior than his illustrious rivals. In an intense baseline rally, his initiative to change the course of the rally (changing angle of the ball) doesn’t go waste often. For, he waits for the right opportunity before pouncing on that ‘initiative’ ball. And when the opponents try to win that initiative a bit prematurely, he lands them lethal blows.

Rafa has won six of the last 13 slams; and though four of them came at Roland Garros, one can always argue that the Spaniard is an all-round player.

After all, he is the ONLY PLAYER to have won two grand slams each on three different surfaces (twice Wimbledon on grass; one each US Open and Australian on hard courts). You can win one with luck and/or fluke. Winning two is that much more difficult and creditable.

It’s not wise to demean Andre Agassi and Federer’s achievement of career grand slams. However, the fact remains that they won the French Open just once. And against Andrei Medvedev and Robin Soderling respectively. On the other hand, Rafa defeated the best player on grass Federer on the former’s least favourite surface to clinch the Wimbledon crown in 2008. And boy, it was a proper match. Federer didn’t have an off day.

Similarly, Nadal beat none other than Djokovic in the 2010 US Open final apart from winning the Australian from Federer’s grasp in 2009.

Of course, it’s quite difficult to believe that Nadal has hit this super form despite suffering a ‘serious’ injury. A deeper look in the way he manages his schedule indicates that his season starts with Monte Carlo and ends with the US Open in New York. Of course, he plays the events before Monaco and also towards year-end apart from the Australian Open; but his energies are centred around the patch from Monte Carlo to New York.

Among Indian Wells, Miami, Shanghai and Paris (the four 1000 Masters which don’t seem to be in Nadal’s preferred time span), he has won just four. And never at Shanghai and Paris. And out of his 24 Masters 1000 titles, 17 have come at either Rome, Madrid or Monaco.

Even he is aware that he is not at his best physical and mental condition in Australia and post Wimbledon that includes Masters in Montreal, Toronto, Connecticut and US Open as well.

Isn’t it a no-surprise then that he has not won a single year-end title, and made it the finals of the creme de la creme event just once?

Not surprisingly, we marvel at Nadal ignoring these facts: out of his 36 great titles (12 slams and 24 masters), a whopping 26 have come on clay.

The Federer fans could look at the above figures differently. They could say 10 strong titles for Nadal outside clay in eight years; that’s 1.25 such titles per year. And Federer gets to play only two tournaments on his most suitable conditions in a year (Wimbledon and indoor year-ender) while Nadal gets four (Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros).

But then, Nadal clearly knows that to be called as one of the greatest players, you need not play great all the time on all the surfaces. Playing smart will help too. If that means reducing the workload and intensity; and concentrating on your forte; be it!

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Amit Karmarkar is sports editor at The Times of India in Pune. He started writing for a Marathi fortnightly and a newspaper at the age of 17 (in 1990). From being a mad fan of Sunil Gavaskar and John McEnroe, he has turned a bit cynical towards cricket, thanks to a barrage of insignificant matches, BCCI politicians and "source" stories.

Amit Karmarkar is sports editor at The Times of India in Pune. He started writing for a Marathi fortnightly and a newspaper at the age of 17 (in 1990). From. . .